


Don't Let Me Go

by Useless_Lesbian123



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/F, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, hydrokinetic Anne, parrlyn, powers, super powers, telekinetic cathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27392269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Useless_Lesbian123/pseuds/Useless_Lesbian123
Summary: G-2 had lived in the facility as long as she could remember, and she was growing sick of it. After an especially exhausting day, she’s had enough. She’s going to escape with B-6, the girl across the hall and the only good thing in her life or die trying.A multi chapter parrlyn au
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard, Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon & Catherine Parr, Catherine of Aragon/Jane Seymour
Comments: 29
Kudos: 147





	1. A plan

G-2 tapped her foot impatiently, the sound echoing throughout the empty white room. Sat on her cot, she waited for her examination, amusing herself with the white walls of her overly white room.

God she hated this room.

Three of the walls were a blinding white, not a single speck of dust to distract from the fact. A single cot rested in the far right corner, made up of a scratchy cushion decorated by a pale grey pillow and an equally scratchy blanket. A single glass wall trapped her in the cell, taunting and mocking, with the air locked door sealing her inside. The researchers had given her a single green ball to amuse herself with. Or maybe it was just another experiment. She really couldn’t tell anymore.

To be quite honest, G-2 didn’t even know what the experiments were anymore. At first, it had been physical activity. She’d be forced to run herself ragged, repeat a single punch until the researchers were happy with it. A man in a white coat often stood at a distance, writing furiously in the white journal left in her room.

Then, the testing began.

She didn’t remember much of the testing.

Faint memories of needles and scalpels glared at her from the back or her mind, too terrifying to remember but too traumatizing to forget.

Next came the fever. She’d laid on a plastic white table, delirious from fever as the researchers monitored her state. She’d tried calling for help, for comfort, but none came.

As soon as the fever subsided, the “tests” began. First, she’d been placed in a blazing hot room, waiting for something, anything to happen. Next, it was a freezing cold room, and so, every week, she’d occupy a new room.

It wasn’t until the thirty-second room that the researchers found what they’d been looking for.

A blue room, completely empty except for a single glass of water in the center. She’d waited in the room for instructions, only to receive none. Picking the glass up, she was immediately met with a blinding headache. She’d stumbled away from the glass, grasping at anything to steady herself. As she fell to her knees in pain, a shattering sound caught her attention.

Then there was nothing.

When she’d woken up, the tests had become much more repetitive. Sit in the room, interact with the glass, repeat. She’d never been told what exactly happened when she touched the glass, and she was never conscious enough to remember. It was just test after test, and she hated it.

If there was one thing she didn’t hate in the facility, it was the girl in the cell across her. B-6, as she’d been called. Dark curls reached down to her shoulders, framing her face. Her figure was lean and tall, with gangly limbs that made G-2 question if she’d ever had to do the physical tests. A single thin scar ran down her left arm, tracing her shoulder to her elbow. A matching scar wrapped around G-2′s neck, often hidden by her own dark hair. They’d never actually talked, such was impossible with the pane of glass separating them, but even so, G-2 certainly felt closer to B-6 than she felt to anyone else in the facility.

B-6 had arrived quite a bit after her when they were still children. Truth be told, G-2 hadn’t much cared for her back then, much too focused on keeping herself safe to worry about her new hallmate. It was only later that she’d found herself caring for the other girl, whether she wanted to or not.

It had been one of her “free days” when the researchers had left her to her own devices to recover from her last experiment when it had started. She’d noticed the researchers usher a shaking girl into the room across the hall before sealing the doors and leaving. As soon as they were gone, B-6 had crumpled to the ground, sobbing into her hands. Hesitating, G-2 had gone up to tap the glass. No reaction. Looking around, she shrugged.

And launched herself against the glass pane.

B-6 had looked up at the resounding thud that rang through the hallway. Making eye contact, G-2 gave her (what she hoped was) a reassuring smile. B-6 smiled weakly at her, and G-2 felt a strange warm feeling bloom in her chest.

She’d wondered if this was part of her experiments.

Since then, they’d “stuck together” as much as they could in the strange facility. They’d eat their meals together, always waiting for the other to arrive if their meals were delivered separately. There was an unspoken rule that if one of them had a test, the other would wait for the other to arrive before taking their break. Though they may not be able to communicate verbally, the glances and gestures they exchanged more than sufficed. She may hate the facility, but G-2 was rather thankful for the had company. But even though B-6 certainly made her life in the facility a little less hellish, G-2 had had enough. She wanted out. And she’d be damned if she left her only friend behind.

But she was getting ahead of herself. First, she needed to make a plan. She knew from watching B-6 that after experiments, a guard would carry you to your room, where you’d be placed on your cot until you woke up. She also knew that night and experiment time was more guarded, whilst the time right after experiment time was less guarded. G-2 and B-6′s experiments always took place on different days. With no way to properly communicate with B-6, G-2 knew that the plan would rest on her shoulders.

And so, she got planning.


	2. In action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> G-2 sets her plan in motion

As the guards led G-2 away from her cell, she prepared to set her plan in motion. Stepping into the familiar blue room, she steeled herself for what was to come. Stepping towards the glass, she reached her hand out. The familiar headache returned as G-2 stumbled away from the glass. Feeling the familiar creep of unconsciousness, she bit down on her tongue.

The copper taste in her mouth made her want to gag, but it did it’s job keeping her awake. Gritting her teeth, she let herself fall limp on the ground.

She heard the familiar sound of footsteps approaching before she was hoisted over someone’s shoulder and carried away. 

Opening her eyes a sliver, she checked to make sure the coast was clear before slipping her hand into the guard’s back pocket, careful not to alert him of her consciousness. Slipping the key card out of his pocket, she slid it in her sleeve before closing her eyes once again and waiting. 

Stopping outside her cell, the guard slipped his hand into his pockets, feeling around before sighing and turning to the guard outside of B-6′s cell.

“Hey, can I borrow your key card? I can’t find mine,”

G-2 heard the man sigh.

“Again? Jeez man, stop leaving it in your room!”

“But I didn’t! I swear, I took it with me this morning!”

“Yeah, yeah,”

G-2 heard the familiar ting of the door before she was dropped harshly on her cot. Waiting for the door to close again, then waiting an additional thirty seconds, she squinted, opening her eyes slightly. Seeing no guards, she sat up, sliding the card back into her hand. 

Turning towards the door, she met B-6′s concerned gaze with a grin of her own as she lifted the key card into sight. B-6′s eyes widened as G-2 made her way to the door. stumbling slightly in her exhaustion. Opening the door with a click, she made her way to B-6′s cell, where B-6 waited eagerly. 

As the door slid open, the two stared at each other. Time seemed to freeze for a moment before B-6 spoke up.

“So, what’s the plan?” 

G-2 froze, momentarily caught off guard by her voice. It was smooth and calm, delivering her a sense of ease. As B-6 cleared her throat awkwardly, G-2 was brought back to reality. 

“Right, so, um, follow me”

Taking her hand, G-2 led the two through the hallway. She absentmindedly noted how warm B-6’s hands were, taking pleasure in her first human contact in years. 

“As soon as the guards notice we’re missing, the whole facility will enter a lockdown. They check on our cells every fifteen minutes and it’ll take about three minutes for the news to spread and the lockdown to begin, so that gives us about eighteen minutes,” 

B-6 nodded in understanding before grabbing her and hiding them behind a corner as the two waited for a guard to pass. Grabbing her hand once again, G-2 led the two through the maze of hallways once again. Approaching the heavy doors of the institution, G-6 heard yelling behind them. Opening the door with a click, G-2 ushered B-6 out the door.

“Run! I’m right behind you!”

Slamming the door shut behind her, G-2 pointed outwards towards the surrounding forest.

“There!”

As the two reached the tree line, the shouting grew louder. Weaving through the trees, the two ran for their lives, the shouts of the guards spurring them on. Coming up on a field of wheat, G-2 wordlessly dove into the wheat, crawling on her stomach, hoping B-6 got the hint. A rustle next to her confirmed her suspicions. Crawling through the wheat, both girls froze as the shouting grew nearer. Gripping B-6’s hand tightly, G-2 held her breath as the shouting grew closer.

And closer.

And closer.

And farther.

Exhaling slowly, G-2 smiled as the voices faded into the distance. Pausing to look at her companion, she ran a sweaty hand through her hair.

“We’d better keep moving,”

B-6 nodded.

“Yeah. We should probably get a little farther before setting up camp,”

Getting to her feet, G-2 looked around once more before extending a hand to B-6, who took it graciously. Hand in hand, the two made their way through the field.

———————

“So, what’s your name?”

“Huh?”

They were several hours into their trek when the question was raised.

“Like, I know they call you G-2, but what was your name before the facility? I’m Catherine, but you can call me Cathy,”

“Before the facility....?”

G-2 thought about it. Before the facility? Was there a before the facility? She couldn’t remember anymore.

Taking her silence in, Cathy turned to G-2.

“G, how long have you been in the facility?”

G-2 looked down, fiddleing with the hem of her shirt.

“I don’t know,”

Looking back up at Cathy, G-2 expected pity. Maybe even sadness. What she was, in fact, met with was sympathy.

“So you don’t remember your name?”

G-2 nodded shyly. Cathy squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“That’s okay! We’ll just make you one!”

“Make me one...?”

Cathy nodded.

“Yeah!” Looking around, her eyes fell on a crow flying above their heads.

“How about crow?”

“We are not calling me crow,”

“Relax, it’s just until we find you’re real name!”

G-2 froze.

“My... real name?”

Cathy smiled at her softly.

“We’re gonna find you your real name. Until then, you’re name is crow,”

“Crow” nodded mutely. Normally, she’d be quite against being called “crow”. But there was something about Cathy that made the name Crow sound pretty okay right now.

Smiling softly at each other, the two made their way towards freedom, away from the facility.


	3. A destination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cathy and crow discuss their destination

“So, where are we going?”

Cathy jumped slightly. 

“Oh! Um, I used to live with my godmother before the facility took me. If we find out where we are, we should be able to find her,”

Crow nodded in understanding, swinging their hands back and forth in thought.

“So, how are we gonna find out where we are?”

Cathy hummed in thought. “So, the facility is full of people right? Well, they’ve gotta get their food and water from somewhere, right?” And given that there are mountains all in that direction, there’s gotta be civilization somewhere around here,”

Crow followed in stunned silence. 

“...What?”

“Oh, nothing. You’re just, like, really smart. Wow,”

Cathy blushed a bright red, rubbing her neck awkwardly. 

“Thanks,”

Progressing through the field, crow stumbled over her feet, throwing her arms out to steady herself.

“Are you okay?”

Crow rubbed her eyes tiredly. “’m fine. Just a bit tired,”

Cathy shot her a concerned look. “Crow, when was the last time you rested?”

“Uh, probably right before my test?”

Cathy’s eyes widened. “Wait, when was your test?”

Crow stumbled once more, gripping Cathy’s arm to steady herself. 

“Right before we escaped,”

Cathy froze, turning to crow, horrified. 

“Crow, you’ve got to rest!”

“‘m fine, I swear I wasn’t this tired earlier,”

“That’s your adrenaline! Crow, you really need to rest!”

Crow stumbled, almost completely supporting herself on Cathy. “Yeah, maybe,”

Cathy gently laid crow on the ground, laying her head in her lap. Crow froze before hesitantly snuggling into Cathy, who promptly began running her fingers through crow’s hair. 

“Get some rest, I’ll keep watch,”

Crow nodded, closing her eyes and letting the void of unconsciousness consume her.

\-----------------------

Opening her eyes, crow squinted in the harsh sunlight. Looking up at Cathy, crow took a moment to really take her in. Her face was calm, peaceful even. Carefully, she sat up, making sure not to disturb her sleeping companion. Looking around, she stretched, yawning sleepily. Smiling, she gently nudged Cathy awake.

“Hey sleepy, wake up,”

Cathy blinked at her blearily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Sitting up, she took the hand crow offered her and stood up. 

“We gotta keep moving Cath, we gotta find your godmother,”

Cathy’s eyes lit up at the prospect, standing up straighter. Wordlessly, the two set off through the field. Cathy laid her head on crow’s shoulder, grumbling something in a language she didn’t understand. As the two walked quietly, exhaustion from the previous day setting in, a structure in the distance caught crow’s attention.

“Hey Cathy, what’s that?”

Cathy looked up towards where she was pointing, jumping slightly as she noticed the structure. 

“Crow, that’s a church! We found a town!” 

Crow wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but Cathy’s excitement excited her. Grinning, Cathy grabbed her hand and led her towards the town. 

\---------------------

The town was, to say the least, mesmerizing. Crow wasn’t quite sure she’d ever seen so many people in a single place before, and if she was being honest, it unnerved her. She pressed herself close the Cathy, gripping her hand tightly. Cathy gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, leading them through the mass of people with ease. As the two paused near a fountain, Cathy turned to crow.

“I’m gonna find out where we are, do you wanna come with?”

Crow weighed her options carefully. While she really didn’t want to leave Cathy, the crowd of people didn’t sit quite well with her. Taking her apprehensiveness in, Cathy quickly reassured her. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to! You can just stay here if you want!”

Crow nodded quietly, watching as Cathy disappeared into the crowd. Sitting down on the edge of the fountain, she contented herself people watching. The bright clothes and mass of people fascinated her to say the least, and even though she got a few strange looks from people walking by, she paid them no mind.

Turning back towards the fountain, crow fixated her attention on the ripples, running through the water, breaking the clean surface.

It was mesmerizing.

Reaching out, she touched a finger to the surface of the water, smiling as the ripples spread from where she made contact. Reaching out her other hand, she tapped the clear surface, giggling with childish glee at the splash of water that followed.

And so, time seemed to speed up as crow played with the water of the fountain, mesmerized by the patterns formed by the ripples. Tapping and slapping at the surface, her joyous laughter spread through the air, oblivious of the disapproving looks strangers shot her.

A cold gust of wind caught her attention as she shuddered, bringing her arms up to hug her torso. Looking around, her smile faded as she looked around for Cathy. Was this supposed to take this long? Crow wasn’t sure, but she certainly didn’t like it. Looking around, she contemplated her options. She could wait for Cathy’s return, but how long would that take? She could look for Cathy, but what if Cathy came back while she was searching? Looking around, crow decided.

She never quite was one for waiting.

Walking through the town, crow shrunk away from the crowd of people surrounding her.

“Cathy? Cath?”

She paused, straining her ears to try and fish an answer from the blur of speech resounding from the crowd. Finally, a certain voice caught her attention.

“-don’t want any trouble,”

Crow moved towards the voice, towards an alley, weaving through the crowd with relative ease. Coming up on the alley, crow took in the scene before her.

Cathy appeared to be having some sort of confrontation with the man before her, speaking calmly and clearly, though crow recognized the unease in her voice. The man smiled at her, a dangerous glint in his eyes that crow didn’t quite like. Advancing on the pair, crow made her appearance known.

“Cath?”

Cathy’s eyes lit up at her voice. The man tuned towards her, and Cathy used his momentary distraction to sneak past him towards crow.

“Crow!”

The man laughed, which quickly turned into a cough at Cathy’s scathing glare.

“Her name is crow?”

“As a matter of fact, it is,”

Cathy glared at the man coldly, moving next to crow and taking her hand. Crow looked from Cathy to the man.

“Is he bothering you?”

The man laughed once more, reaching a hand out towards Cathy.

“No, not at all! I’m her boyfriend,”

Crow stared at him blankly.

“You’re lying,”

“What?”

“You’re lying,”

A bead of sweat ran down the man’s face as he turned to Cathy.

“Course I’m not! Right love?”

Cathy blinked at him, moving towards the entrance of the alley with crow.

“I truly do not know you. Now if you don’t mind, we’ll be taking our leave,”

As they made their way away from the man, something hit crows head with a thunk. Turning to face the man, crow stared at him blankly. The man paled and ran away, bumping into Cathy in his rush to escape. Raising a hand to her forehead, crow rubbed her head, staring blankly at the crimson staining her hand.

“Hey Cath? I think I’m bleeding,”

Cathy’s attention snapped to crow at her statement. Cursing, she led the confused crow back to the fountain to clean the wound. Dipping her oversized sleeve into the water, she gently began dabbing at crow’s forehead. As the blood cleared away, her brow creased.

“That’s..... strange,”

“Mm?”

Cathy gestured to crow’s forehead with her arm, accidentally slapping her face with her sleeve in the process.

“With the amount of blood there was, I would’ve expected a big cut, or at least a semi serious wound. But from what I can see, you’ve just got a tiny cut,”

“..... is that a bad thing or...?”

“Oh no, that’s good! Just weird,”

Snorting, crow shoved Cathy playfully.

“Yeah, whatever. Did you at least find out where we are?”

Cathy perked up at the question.

“Yeah! We’re in a town called Shidgherd, which is somewhat good. My godmother brought me here once to take a look, so it should be just a couple days to reach her,”

Crow hummed before freezing and turning to Cathy.

“Wait.... if you’ve been here before, how come you didn’t recognize it?”

Cathy blushed a bright red.

“I was little okay?!”

Crow snorted.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Let’s just get the hell out of here and find your godmother,”

Cathy hummed in agreement, and the two set off once more, this time, towards an actual destination.


	4. Her story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We got some backstory boiiiiis

“You okay?”

Cathy paced back and forth before the fire the two had made as they set up camp. Crow watched her with varying levels of concern and amusement, though it appeared her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Cathy paused her pacing, flapping her arms anxiously.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine,”

Crow’s eyebrows raised apprehensively.

“Sure. And I’m a dolphin.”

Cathy groaned in exasperation, throwing her hands in the air.

“It’s just- it’s been a while since I’ve seen my godmother. I’m a bit nervous,”

Crow sat up a bit straighter, turning to Cathy.

“So how’d you actually end up in the facility?”

Cathy shrank down, hunching her shoulders awkwardly. Realizing her mistake, crow hurriedly corrected herself.

“You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable! It’s just, if you ever need to get that off your chest, I’ll be here,”

Crow finished off with a gentle smile, and Cathy inhaled shakily.

“No, it’s okay. I probably need to talk about it anyways,”

“When I was little, my parents died and I went to live with my godmother. She wasn’t very old, certainly not old enough to take care of a child, but she didn’t want me to end up on the streets. She said I’d be safe with her, that she’d make sure nothing happened to me,” Cathy spoke with a faraway look in her eyes, as if recalling a better time.

“Well we all know how that went,” Cathy gave a hollow laugh at that, wiping the wetness from her eyes.

“One time, we were out in the market, looking for I think carrots? And this man comes up the her and starts talking. While they were talking, a different guy came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I tried calling for help, but he hit me over the head and I fell unconscious. Next thing I know, I wake up in this weird cell in a weird place across the room from a weird girl. And I guess you know the rest,

As she finished her story, Cathy eyed crow curiously. “And what about you?”

Crow startled, taken aback by the sudden question.

“I-uh,”

Cathy blinked, realizing dawning over her.

“Shit, sorry! I forgot you can’t remember,”

Crow nodded, suddenly finding the ground quite interesting. Was it wrong she couldn’t remember? Should she apologize for forgetting?

Perhaps sensing her thoughts, Cathy spoke up.

“It’s okay that you don’t remember you know, nothing wrong with forgetting,”

Crow nodded, not trusting her voice to form proper words. Silently, Cathy plopped herself down next to crow, laying her head on crow’s shoulder. The two sat there in the quiet cover of the night for what could have been a thousand years as the two drifted off to sleep, comforted by the knowledge they weren’t alone.

\-----------------------------

“Cath, you sure you’re ready for this? I can practically feel the anxiety rolling off you,”

It had been two days since their conversation near the campfire, and according to Cathy they were nearing their destination. As time went on, Cathy’s anxiety grew, getting stronger and stronger as they grew closer and closer. Now barely two hours away, Cathy appeared to be reaching her breaking point. At crow’s concern, Cathy stopped walking, biting her lip anxiously.

“It’s fine, it’s just- what if she thinks I ran away? What if she doesn’t recognize me? What if she moved away and she doesn’t even live there anymore? What if-”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay!” Crow stopped, turning to face Cathy.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine! Chances are, she’ll just be happy to see you! I know I would be,” The last part was said in a whisper, a murmured truth crow would never admit to admitting.

“What was that last part?”

“Nothing!”

Cathy eyed her doubtfully. “Alright... you’re probably right. I’m just overthinking again,”

Her voice lacked conviction or certainty. Unsure of how to comfort her distraught friend(?), crow grabbed Cathy’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Cathy’s eyes met hers as crow gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Hey, even if things go to shit, at least we got each other, right?”

Cathy smiled at her fondly.

“You’re right. We stick together,”

Crow pretended not to hear the uncertainty in her voice.

\-----------------------------

Just as the sun began to set, the two came across a quaint town, echoing with laughter and singing. A look in Cathy’s direction told crow all she needed to know about their location.

Looking around, crow decided she liked this town better than Shidgherd. For one thing, the people seemed friendlier. Wherever she looked, she’d see people smiling and laughing, a sense of joy filling the air. It was much less crowded as well, which was definitely a relief for crow. Wordlessly, Cathy led them through the masses as if she’d done so hundreds of times before (Though crow supposed she had). Stopping before a small, worn down cottage, Cathy froze.

“Nope. No, can’t do this. Nope!” Turning away from the cottage, Cathy glared at crow as she blocked her exit. 

“What gives?”

Crow sighed, running her hand through her hair. “Come on, just knock on the damn door!”

Cathy shook her head rapidly, stepping away from crow. 

“No, I think I’ll pass,”

“Come on, just go talk to her!”

“No, I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t!”

“Why not?!”

“BECAUSE I HURT HER!”

Silence followed her outburst. Rubbing her eyes furiously, Cathy turned away from crow.

“Look, you don’t know her like I do, okay? She may not act like it, but Lina’s one of the most overprotective people you’ll ever meet,”

Crow wordlessly waited for Cathy to elaborate. Turning to look at her, Cathy sighed, a sad smile on her face.

“She’d never taken care of a kid before, so she was always extra careful with me. She’d tell me: “Even when you’re old and wrinkly, you’ll always be my baby Cath,”. She was trying so hard to take care of me but I-”

Cathy hiccupped, wiping the tears from her face.

“I just had to go get myself kidnaped! And knowing Lina, she ran herself ragged trying to find me, except she never did, ‘cause I was stuck in the fucking facility! And now, she’s probably lost, like, twenty years of her life due to stress, all because I just had to get kidnaped!”

Cathy breathed heavily, thick tears running down her face as she struggled to keep her composure. Wordlessly, crow stepped forwards, wrapping her arms around the taller girl firmly. Cathy froze before melting into the embrace, heaving sobs wracking her body. As the two stood there, suspended in time, crow spoke up.

“Look, I know facing her might be hard- actually never mind I’m supremely unqualified to deal with this- but even I know stalling isn’t going to do anything. If Lina’s anything like you sad, she’ll probably just be relieved to know you’re alive. It might not be easy, but I think- and this is just my opinion- you should probably face her,”

Sniffling, Cathy dug her face into crow’s neck. 

“I-I know I have to face her, but, hic, could we just wait a bit?”

Crow hummed, gently rubbing her back.

“Of course love, take all the time you need. Just as long as it’s not, like, more than forty-eight hours. You may be a good hugger, but I cannot just chill here for two days,”

Cathy gave a watery laugh (crow felt the strange warmth blooming in her chest once more) and nodded, still shaking slightly. As the two stood together, crow couldn’t help but feel everything was gonna be alright.

\-----------------------------

“Cath, you good? You’ve just been standing there for, like, ten minutes,”

the two stood before the wooden door, Cathy’s hand raised and ready to knock. Cathy looked to the door a blank expression plastered on her face. Turning to crow, her mouth opened, no words came out. Gesturing to the door, crow spoke up.

“Look, I know I said take all the time you need, but can we hurry it up a bit? I’m on a bit of a schedule,”

Cathy snorted, swatting crow’s arm playfully. 

“Shut up!”

Turning back to the door, Cathy inhaled deeply.

And knocked.


	5. Some feels and shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We got some more backstory and feelings

The door opened to reveal a tall, dark woman. Whilst she was slightly taller than crow, Cathy was still taller than her. Her curly hair landed on her shoulders, spread evenly across her shoulders rather than swept to one side like Cathy’s.

“Hello, how can I help-”

Her eyes landed on Cathy.

“-you....”

Both women stared at each other, each frozen in shock. Crow looked from Cathy to Lina, attempting to decipher their expressions. Lina wore a blank expression, eyes widened in shock. Cathy bit her bottom lip nervously, fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve. It suddenly occurred to crow how odd the two must look, with their muddy (and slightly bloody in Cathy’s case) uniforms and their strange scars. Crow tugged on a strand of her hair nervously, sweating at the growing tension.

Finally, crow spoke up.

“Erm, are you Lina?”

Lina nodded blankly, eyes fixed firmly on Cathy.

“Okay. Um, I’m crow, and this is-”

“-Catherine,” Lina finished breathlessly. Cathy looked up from the ground, eyes shining with tears.

“Hi Lina,”

Lina launched herself at Cathy, who stumbled backwards in surprise. Crow tensed, ready for combat, before realizing they were hugging. Lina wept openly into Cathy’s arms, who pat her back numbly as thick tears ran down her face. Crow stood to the side awkwardly as sobs filled the air, awkwardly looking into the distance. Finally, Lina spoke up through her heaving sobs.

“Catherine Parr, where on earth have you been!?”

Her voice lacked any sort of conviction or anger, too heavy with relief to seem cross.

Cathy sniffled, burying her face into Lina’s chest.

“It’s a long story,”

The two sat there in silence, muffled sobs filling the air as they held each other tightly. The sun set behind the cottage, illuminating the group with it’s pink-blue hues. As the wind picked up, dust began moving through the air. Rubbing her eyes, crow sneezed as a gust of wind blew into her face. Jolting up, Lina looked at crow as if seeing her for the first time.

“Oh-uh, where are my manners? I’m Catalina,” She rubbed the redness from her eyes, not quite succeeding in composing herself, not that crow would ever bring it up.

“Crow,” she nodded politely, shifting her weight awkwardly. Catalina and Cathy stood up reluctantly, still holding each other tightly. The two headed towards the cottage, Catalina ushering them all inside.

Stepping inside, Catalina led the girls towards a small room, a birch table surrounded by four chairs sat in the center. Crow looked around the room, observing the paintings and writings littering the wall. Stepping towards a crinkled piece of paper lying on the counter, crow smiled at the name scrawled messily on the corner.

“Cath, you wrote this?”

Cathy looked towards the paper, groaning in embarrassment as she realized what crow was referring to.

“Ugh, yeah. It’s a story I wrote when I was small. You can read it if you want, just don’t expect it to be any good,”

Catalina rolled her eyes fondly, pulling up a chair as she sat down.

“Well I think it’s plenty good. You two should probably sit down, I’ve got the feeling we’ve got a lot to talk about,”

If anyone noticed the tear stains littering the page, no one mentioned it.

As the two sat down, the door creaked open in the other room. Cathy and crow both jumped, while Catalina’s eyes lit up.

“I’m home! Kitty’s eating with Anna today, so we don’t have to wait for her,”

As Catalina moved to greet the voice, crow felt her entire body tense. The voice sounded..... familiar? But, she reasoned, that would be impossible. How would she recognize the voice if the researchers never spoke and her memories of before were gone? Unless-

Her train of thought was interrupted as Catalina reentered the room, followed by the voice’s owner.

“I- you’ve gotta see this Jane,”

As Jane entered the room, she froze as her eyes landed on the girls.

But she wasn’t looking at Cathy.

Her eyes rested solely on crow, who felt unable to look away as the two stared at each other. Blond hair fell past her shoulders, resting near her lower back. Although she couldn’t be past her mid-twenties, there was a certain fatigue to her eyes that gave her an older look. Her figure, short and plump, was frozen in shock as the women stared each other down. 

Finally, she spoke up.

“....Anne?”

Crow felt dizzy. Anne. That name was familiar. But from where? Was that her name? Did she know this woman? But from where? Who was this woman to her? A friend? Family? A peer? Clutching Cathy for support, crow (or was it Anne?) forced herself to meet Jane’s eyes.

“.....do I know you?”

Crow flinched at the harshness of her words, mentally kicking herself. As silence enveloped the room, Cathy spoke up.

“....I think we all need to talk,”

\------------------------------

Sat at the table, the four stared at each other warily. Cathy gripped crow’s hand tightly under the table, though crow couldn’t tell if she was doing more for herself or crow. Catalina tapped her fingers awkwardly on her table, the sound resonating through the room. Jane’s eyes rested firmly on crow, who soundly avoided her eyes. Sitting up, Catalina cleared her throat awkwardly. 

“So, while there’s definitely a lot to talk about here, I think first thing’s first. Where have you two been these past few years?”

The question wasn’t asked harshly, rather, it was spoken gently but firmly, leaving no room for dodging the question.

“Well we-”

“You see, I-”

Cathy and crow both looked at each other, erupting into a fit of giggles. Catalina rolled her eyes good naturedly as Jane smiled fondly at the two. As their giggles died down, crow motioned for Cathy to continue.

“Well, we- first of all don’t freak out-”

Catalina and Jane both raised their eyebrows.

“We- we were kind of in- um- a human experimentation facility?”

A horrified silence followed her declaration. Cathy and crow both glanced at each anxiously as Jane and Catalina both stared at them blankly, processing the new information. As Jane’s mouth opened, Cathy hurriedly continued.

“I got there a bit after crow, and we kinda became friends? Well, as friendly as we could get with giant panes of glass between us. Anyways, crow stole a key card off of one of the security guards and used it to get us out. We managed to get our bearings and made our way to Shidgherd before finding our way over here.”

Ignoring the horrified looks the older women gave them, crow spoke up.

“I don’t have any memories of anything before the facility and Cathy thought calling me “G-2″ would be depressing, so we settled on calling me crow, “ 

As she finished, a single tear rolled down Jane’s face as Catalina’s hand raised to her mouth in horror. As Jane hurriedly wiped her eyes, crow felt a jolt of guilt run through her.

You made her cry  
Crow’s mind buzzed as she attempted to make the woman feel better. While she wasn’t sure how she knew the woman, she knew seeing her sad made her sad.

“Jane, right? You knew me before?” 

Jane nodded quietly, a pained expression on her face.

“Could you maybe tell me about that?”

Jane nodded once more, inhaling shakily.

“Right, so, I don’t suppose you remember Kitty? Yeah, I guess not. So-um-,”

Jane cleared her throat awkwardly.

“You used to live with me and our younger cousin Kitty before you were taken. We were all cousins with bad families, so we ran away together. You were four, Kitty was two, and I was fifteen when we ran away. You were both so small, but there was a certain.... incident... in the family, and I needed to get you two away from your parents,”

Jane didn’t elaborate and Anne felt too afraid to ask.

“I had to do some work for some.... not too great people to support us. When you were seven, one of my bosses came to talk to me. I knew the conversation might go south, so I told you and Kitty to play outside while we talked. I managed to convince him not to fire me, but when I went outside to get you and Kitty- she-”

Jane was openly sobbing now, taking in deep, heaving breaths in an attempt to steady herself. Catalina placed her hand on Jane’s reassuringly.

“I went out to get you two, except you were gone and Kitty was in hysterics saying someone took you and begging me to bring you back. I managed to make out that someone came up to you two and asked Kitty to come with him. After she kept on refusing, he tried to take her by force. You got him to leave her alone by offering to go with him instead, and told Kitty to wait for me and then left with him. I- I thought you were dead,”

Jane finished with a sob, hugging herself tightly with her arms. Anne stared at her blankly, processing the information. Anne stood up abruptly, her chair falling the the ground behind her with a clatter. 

“I- I need some time to think,”

The three women stared as she sprinted out of the room, the sound of the door slamming shortly following. Catalina wordlessly followed, leaving Cathy with the sobbing Jane.


	6. More feels hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feels and shit

Anne ran through the trees blindly, her mind buzzing with information. Her name was Anne. She had cousins. By the sounds of it, they were close. What did it mean? Jane had mentioned a “Kitty” when she’d entered the house. Was it the same Kitty from the story? If it was, would she remember her?

Coming across a clearing in the woods, Anne slowed to a stop. Panting heavily, she fell to her knees, looking up at the stars littering the night sky. Falling onto her back, Anne stared up at the sky, breathing heavily. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“It’s nice out here, huh?”

Anne jolted out of her reverie, turning to face the owner of the voice. Catalina plopped herself down next to her, staring up at the sky. Wordlessly, the two stared up at the sky.

“Cathy used to come here whenever she was upset you know? It was her secret spot,”

Anne turned to Catalina, who stared at the sky, a distant look in her eyes. Anne fidgeted with her hands, biting her lips. Should she make conversation? Christ, why didn’t the facility teach her how to talk to people? Would she know what to do if she’d stayed with Jane? What else would she have learned? What else did she miss, stuck in the facility all those years?

“Hey, you okay?”

Anne blinked, turning to Catalina. Raising a hand to her face, she was surprised to feel hot tears slipping down her face. 

“....I-”

Anne didn’t know how to answer. Was she okay? Taking her silence in, Catalina spoke up.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Anne startled, staring at Catalina blankly. Talk about it? What was there to talk about? The fact that she just learnt both her name, her family, and how she got to the facility in about ten minutes- oh.

“I’m- I think I just need some time to process,”

Catalina nodded sagely, turning back to look at the stars.

“Cathy used to love looking at the stars, did you know that?”

Anne shook her head no, waiting for Catalina to continue.

“She was so small back then. I used to be able to carry her on my shoulders. She’s grown so much,”

A single tear ran down her cheek.

“She was so scared when she came to live with me. So fragile. I promised her I’d stay with her and protect her,”

“I failed her,”

Anne turned to Catalina once more, startled by the bitterness in her voice. Catalina’s hands curled into fists at her side, shoulders hunching.

“It’s a miracle she doesn’t hate me after what happened,”

“Oh you’ve gotta be shitting me,”

Catalina startled, turning to an annoyed Anne.

“Listen, Cathy could barely shut up about you on the way here. She was so worried you’d think she ran away or that you’d be upset at her she almost didn’t come. She was terrified of facing you,”

Anne continued.

“Listen, I don’t know much about you, but I know Cathy. And Cathy absolutely doesn’t blame you. In fact, she blames herself! Stupid, I know. From what I see, you two are bumbling piles of guilt that just need to talk it out!”

“But aren’t you and Jane the same?”

Anne froze, avoiding Catalina’s critical stare.

“....That’s different,”

“How so?”

Anne looked down, pulling grass up from the ground.

“Look, you and Cathy know each other. I might have known Jane before, but right now, she’s no more than a stranger to me,”

“But that’s not quite true, isn’t it?”

Anne hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

“It’s as true as it needs to be,”

Catalina moved to sit across from Anne, placing her hands on her knees.

“Alright, if she’s just a stranger to you, why don’t you tell me what you think about her? Just based off your “first impression”, yeah?”

Anne considered it before nodding, lifting her head off of her knees.

“Well- she seems nice. And hard working, since supporting two kids can’t have been easy. And she seems.... warm. Like home,”

Anne froze, realizing what she’d just said. Warm? Like home? Where on earth had that come from? Catalina smirked, raising her eyebrow at her.

“A stranger, huh?”

“Shut up,” Anne turned back to the ground, blushing a bright pink.

“It’s not like it matters anymore anyways,”

Catalina frowned, eyes twinkling with sadness.

“Well why not?”

Anne’s eyes burned with unshed tears.

“Because she’s a stranger now! It’s not like I’ll ever be able to remember her!”

Anne choked back a sob, wiping her eyes furiously.

“She was so worried. I worried her. Now I’ll never be able to make it up to her ‘cause she’s essentially a stranger now! And she’ll be sad because I can’t remember her, but there’s nothing I can do to help her!”

Catalina hummed in thought, wrapping her arms firmly around Anne. Anne sank into the embrace, exhaling shakily. Muffled sobs filled the air as Anne wept into Catalina’s shirt, her entire body shaking from her heaving sobs. Catalina stroked her hair quietly, murmuring words of reassurance.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Just let it all out, you’ll be okay,”

And even though Anne couldn’t bring herself to believe her words, they brought her a certain sense of reassurance.

“You know how you said-“

Catalina blushed a bright red.

“You know how you said Cathy wouldn’t stop talking about me? Well, Jane was the same with you,”

“Both her and Kitty. When they moved in, whenever someone said something unexpectedly smart or pulled a surprisingly well thought out prank, one of them would always say: “reminds me of this one time Anne did this” or “just like Anne would say”.

“Every year, there would be one week they’d barely leave the house. They’d get all sad and barely eat or drink anything for the week. When I asked why, Kitty told me it was your birthday week and it just felt wrong without you,”

Catalina smiled softly at Anne, taking her hand in her own.

“Look, even if you don’t remember them, they both love you so, so much. Jane wasn’t upset at you, she was just sad at what you’ve had to go through. We both were,”

Anne sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Catalina squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, prompting her to look up at her.

“Look, I’ll talk with Cathy if you talk to Jane. Deal?”

Catalina extended her hand for Anne to take. Inhaling shakily, Anne took it, wiping the tears from eyes with her other arm.

“Deal,”

\-----------------------

Cathy sat at the table awkwardly as Jane’s sobs turned to sniffles and gasps. Eventually, she spoke up.

“So, you knew crow- sorry, Anne before?”

Jane nodded, hiccupping slightly.

“What was she like?”

Jane paused, rubbing her eyes.

“She- she was so smart. A bit too smart sometimes. She once came to me telling me she knew babies couldn’t come from storks and wanted to know where they really came from. That piqued Kitty’s interest as well, and I suddenly had two very curious little girls asking where babies come from on my hand,”

She laughed at the memory, a fond smile playing at her lips.

“She was also one of the most mischievous littles girls you’ll meet. That, combined with her brains, was a recipe for disaster,”

“Oh! And also, she was very protective of me and Kitty. She’d try to carry Kitty when she was sad, not that it worked, but it always made Kitty laugh. She once came home bloody and bruised after getting into a fight with some boys that made fun of Kitty. Scared me half to death too! I tried to tell her off, but she just seemed so proud of herself for protecting her little sister that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. One time, she even bit a man when we were out shopping and he wouldn’t leave me alone. Walked right up to him and bit his arm as hard as she could,”

Cathy laughed at that, the image of Anne biting a man amusing her. Jane gave a little chuckle as her eyes stared at the wall distantly. 

“I shouldn’t have been surprised she’d go with the man if it meant protecting Kitty. I really should’ve seen it coming,”

Cathy startled at the hollowness of her voice as her face darkened.

“I should’ve just told the girls to go to our room. I should have kept a better eye on them. I- I should’ve done so much more,”

“But I didn’t. And Anne got stuck in that god-forsaken facility. Now she doesn’t even remember me! Or Kitty! Or even her own name! All because I failed her!”

Jane took a deep, shuddering breath, fresh tears flowing from her eyes. Cathy hesitantly reached her hand over the table, resting it on Jane’s.

“Listen, though she might not remember you by name, there’s something there. I haven’t told her this, but during our trip, she’d often talk in her sleep. At first, I chalked it up to mindless ramblings, but then I noticed she’d repeat herself,”

Jane hesitantly looked up at her, curiosity written all over her face.

“The things she’d repeat most was “Kitty-Kat” or “Kit-Kat”, and also “Janey”. Sometimes, she’d even ask for a “Lizzie,”

Jane looked up, eyes wide with shock.

“Lizzie was the name of her stuffed dog. I made it for her for her fifth birthday,”

Cathy smiled softly at her, squeezing her hand in hers. 

“Look, while she may not have you and Kitty in the front of her mind, you haven’t been completely erased from her mind,”

Cathy continued, encouraged by the hopeful glimmer in Jane’s eyes.

“If we could find you and Lina, we can find her memories,”

Jane swallowed, nodding hesitantly. As the silence settled, Cathy bit her lip nervously.

“Erm- if you don’t mind- what has Lina been like since I left?”

Jane perked up, smiling softly.

“Of course love!”

“Well, she used to go to the market every Saturday to look for you in case you came back. She’s been really good with Kitty, which has been a real help. She keeps a little box filled with letters she’d write to you next to her dresser, though I’m not supposed to know that. She always helps Kitty after her nightmares, which I find really lovely of her to do, and-”

Jane froze, a bright red blush creeping across her face. Cathy raised her eyebrow, leaning towards Jane.

“Jane I-don’t-know-what-your-last-name-is, how long have you been in love with my godmother?”

Jane blushed a brilliant red, looking at the floor bashfully.

“Seymour, and I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

Cathy smirked, rolling her eyes playfully.

“You like her!” She teased.

“Do not!”

“You do!”

As Jane opened her mouth to retaliate, the door opened with a creak.

Catalina and Anne walked into the room awkwardly, looking at the pair seriously.

“I think me and Cathy need to talk,”

“Jane, we need to talk,”


	7. What did they do to you?

A somber silence fell over the room as Jane and Anne stared at each over awkwardly. Anne tapped her finger on the table, bouncing her leg nervously. Jane’s hands clasped together tightly, sweat running down her brow. Clearing her throat, Anne spoke up.

“So.... you’re my cousin,”

Jane nodded, not bothering to hide the curiosity on her face. 

“I am,”

Anne rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, wincing as her hand ran over the thin scar.

“And we have another cousin named Kitty,”

“Katherine actually, but we just call her Kitty,”

Anne sighed, running her hand through her hair.

“Right. Erm, I don’t remember any of you, as we’ve already established, but is it possible we could.... I dunno, start again? I- I know it might be awkward, since you and Kitty both remember me and I don’t, but you seem nice, and I don’t wanna pretend everything’s normal, since it’s not, but-”

“You want to form a bond, but you want to start from the beginning since it’s impossible to do otherwise,” Jane finished, a soft smile gracing her features. Anne nodded, staring at the ground as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“I know it might be hard for you and Kitty since you remember me, and I’m sorry but I want to try and be the girl you knew but I don’t know how and I’m sorry-”

Jane pulled her into a hug, her arms wrapping around Anne tightly. Anne froze before sinking into the embrace, salty tears running down her face as her body shook with barely contained sobs. 

“It’s alright, it’s okay. No one expects you to be the same girl you were eleven years ago. Even if you don’t have your memories, you’ll always just be Anne to me,”

Anne wept into Jane’s shirt, muffled cries of “I’m sorry” punctuating her sobs. Jane smoothed her hair calmly, quietly muttering reassurances in her ear.

“Hey, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me,”

Anne blinked, looking up at Jane blankly. “But why?”

Jane looked away, her grip on Anne tightening as she inhaled sharply.

“I- I let him take you. I should’ve just told you and Kitty to go wait in our room. Or I should’ve kept a better eye on you- or just something,”

Anne stared at Jane blankly, sitting up so she could rest her head on Jane’s chest. 

“That wouldn’t’ve changed anything,”

Jane startled at the hollowness in Anne’s voice. Turning to face her, Jane watched as Anne looked down to the ground.

“If the facility wants something, they get it. No one can change that,”

Jane felt her heart shatter at the emptiness of Anne’s voice. Quietly, she pulled Anne closer to her, as if hoping to shield her from the coldness of the world.

“Oh love, what did they do to you?”

Anne buried her face into Jane’s chest once more, relishing in the resounding security that followed. The two women sat like that, holding each other tightly as they sobbed into each other’s arms. The room quieted, the silence pierced by the occasional sob cutting through the air. Eventually, Jane broke the silence.

“I was supposed to protect you,”

“When we ran away, I swore that I’d protect you and Kitty with my life,”

“But I failed,”

Her voice fell miserably as her arms fell to her side limply. Anne said nothing, snuggling into Jane quietly.

“If you failed, so did I,”

Anne inhaled deeply.

“I forgot the most important people in my life. Yeah I’ve got Cathy now, but I lost you and Kitty. If me getting taken means you failed, then me losing my memories means I failed,”

Jane’s arms tightened around her as she rested her chin on Anne’s head. 

“I guess we both failed, huh?”

Anne laughed bitterly.

“I guess we did,”

\-------------------------------------

Cathy and Catalina eyed each other awkwardly, sitting down on the grass behind the house. They sat a little way away from each other, as if an invisible barrier separated them.

“You’re so big,”

Cathy startled, turning to Catalina, who stared at the sky, a distant look in her eyes.

“Remember when you were little and you’d ride on my shoulders? You used so say you could see the whole world from up there,”

Cathy shifted to sit closer to Catalina, hesitantly laying her head on her shoulder. Catalina froze, eyes wide, before gently wrapping her arm around Cathy. Eventually, Cathy spoke up.

“Lina?”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry for worrying you,”

Catalina snorted. 

“So Anne was right,” Catalina ruffled Cathy’s hair, prompting a whine from the latter.

“Mija, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I’m just glad you’re safe and home. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry,”

Cathy looked up at her godmother, a questioning look on her face.

“But you couldn’t’ve done anything. The facility takes what the facility wants, like it or not,”

Catalina sighed, running her hand through her hair. “I know love, but that doesn’t make me feel any better,”

Cathy hummed, resting her head on Catalina’s shoulder. The two sat in silence, gazing at the quiet morning sky. Just as she thought Cathy might have fallen asleep, Catalina startled as as Cathy slumped next to Catalina, a murmured “love you” escaping her lips as she slumped unconscious. Catalina smiled, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she picked Cathy up, heading back to the cottage.

“I love you too,”

\-------------------------------------

As the four sat back at the table, some of the tension eased slightly. Anne sat next to Jane, her head resting on her chest as she blinked drowsily. Across the table, Cathy had her head laid on the table, fast asleep. Catalina sat next to her, holding Jane’s hand across the table. 

Just as Anne felt she was about to fall asleep, the door swung open in the other room. 

“I’m home!” a peppy voice chirped from the door. Catalina and Jane both perked up, staring at each other, mild panic evident in their eyes. Cathy and Anne both sat up, blinking around blearily.

“Kitty,”

Anne perked up as Jane ran out of the room, presumably to meet Kitty before Kitty met them. Catalina winced sympathetically, eyeing Anne anxiously. Anne stared at the floor pointedly, resting her white knuckles on her knees. After what felt like an eternity, Jane walked back into the room, followed by a young girl who couldn’t’ve been older than seventeen.

Anne and the girl stared at each other, taking each other in. The girl had a young, round face, decorated by dark, magenta eyes. Dark, brown hair was held up in a high ponytail, resting on her shoulder as she stared at Anne. Her figure was petite, and Anne absentmindedly wondered if teenagers were supposed to be that small. Finally, the girl spoke up.

“..... Annie?”

Anne felt a jolt of emotion run through her at the nickname. Kitty slowly approached her, a pained expression on her face.

“Jane says you lost your memory. Is it true?”

Anne nodded silently, looking down. Kitty’s face fell as she looked to Jane for help. Jane smiled at her softly, motioning to Anne. Tentatively, Kitty stepped forwards, wrapping her arms around the older girl. Anne hesitated, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. And so, the five women stayed there, quietly relishing in each other’s presence.


	8. You guys deserve some fluff

It had been a week, and Anne and Cathy had finally began to settle in. Catalina and Jane had both fussed over them, giving them clean (although slightly oversized) clothing and dressing their many (although minor) wounds, and the two had finally began settling in.

Anne shared a room with Kat, and although awkward and somewhat uncomfortable at first, the two had fallen into a comfortable sort of rhythm. Cathy shared a room with Jane, which soon became the source of teasing and yelling for reasons Catalina couldn’t possibly fathom. And so, the five fell into a sense of semi normalcy.

Which brings us to our current situation.

“Annie!” Kitty whined, trying to grab the letter Anne held above her head. “Give it back!”

“Who’s Anna and why have I never heard of her?” Anne questioned, switching the letter to her other hand as Kat almost grabbed it. Catalina stuck her head around the corner at the mention.

“Anna? She’s Kitty’s friend. Lives down the street, about a year younger than you,”

“Oh?” Kat took Anne’s momentary distraction to jump up, using Anne’s shoulder as a boost, and grab the letter. Scowling, she swatted Anne’s arm and crossed her own, gripping the letter tightly. Anne slung her arm around the girl affectionately, leaning against the doorframe.

“So, what’s the letter for?”

Kat blushed a bright pink, detaching herself from Anne’s embrace.

“I was gonna see if she wanted to go to the festival with me this weekend,”

Anne froze, a wide grin spreading across her face. 

“Kitty’s got a cru-ush!” she yelled in a sing song voice, yelping as Kat swatted the back of her head. Jane walked into the room, grabbing a glass of water before leaving.

“Anne, stop teasing your cousin,”

Anne smiled guiltily at the stern look Jane sent her way, smiling apologetically at Kat. “Sorry Kit,”

Kat shook her head good naturedly, heading towards the door.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna go deliver this, wanna come with?”

Anne nodded, pulling her shoes onto her feet.

\---------------------------------

The two came across a little run down cottage surrounded by overgrown bushes. Looking around, Anne watched as Kat walked up to the door, letter clutched tightly in her hand. Three short knocks later, the door opened to show a young girl, probably no older than Anne herself. She wore short black hair with her bangs swept to one side of her face. She was tall and broad, though there was a certain air of youthfulness to her. Crimson eyes lit up as she opened the door.

“Hey Kat!” her eyes fell on Anne. “Who’s this?”

“This is my cousin Anne. Anne, meet Anna,”

Anne waved politely, inching closer to Kat. Leaning in slightly, she whispered into Kat’s ear.

“No chickening out now. You gotta commit,”

Kat glared at her playfully, swatting her arm. Anna watched on in confusion. 

“So, what brings you here?”

Kat paled slightly, sweat running down her brow. Fidgeting with her hands, she crumpled the letter in her grasp and stuffed it in her pocket. 

“Lina wanted to know if you wanted to come over for dinner!” she blurted out, a bright pink blush spreading across her face. Anne facepalmed behind her as Anna grinned happily. 

“Sure! Just make sure Jane makes desert,” she chirped, winking at Kat. Kat flushed an even deeper red as Anne sighed loudly. This was gonna be a long day.

\---------------------------------

“What the hell was that?!” Anne rounded on Kat, her hands on her hips. Kat grinned sheepishly, fiddling with a strand of hair. 

“The festival isn’t even that good anyways! If anything, we just dodged a bullet,”

Anne raised her eyebrow, staring at Kat. 

“This isn’t about that and you know it,”

Kat sighed, leaning against the wall of the cottage. “Whatever. It’s not important anyways,”

Anne regarded her, a dubious expression on her face. Kat withered under her incredulous gaze. 

“Whatever, I’ll give it to her tomorrow!”

Anne scoffed, taking Kat’s hand and leading them back to the house. “Chicken,”

“I’m not!” she whined, leaning against Anne dramatically. Anne giggled, ruffling Kat’s hair, prompting another whine of protest from the latter.

\---------------------------------

The six women ate in an awkward silence. Cathy sat to Anne’s right, who in turn sat next to Kat. Next to Kat sat Anna, who didn’t seem too bothered by the silence. Next, was Jane, who appeared to be trying to make conversation with little success. And finally, Catalina sat between Cathy and Jane, munching quietly on a roll of bread. Eventually, Cathy broke the silence.

“So Anna, how’d you and Kitty meet?”

Jane sighed in relief, thankful for the conversation starter. 

“Well for that, you need the story of how we got here first. If you don’t mind-?”

Anna swallowed down on a piece of carrot in her mouth, erupting into a fit of coughs as she choked on the vegetable. Kat offered her a glass of water, which she took gratefully.

“Not at all,” she choked out, face red and sweaty. 

Jane gave her a concerned look, which she quickly waved away. 

“If you insist...”

“So it was just a little after you were... taken,”

Anna looked up in confusion at this. Kat leaned towards her.

“I’ll explain later,” she whispered, prompting a thankful look in her direction from the rest of the women.

“Right, so, I met Lina a bit later. Cathy had already disappeared, so it was just her. We became friends a bit later, seeing as we had some.... common ground,” Jane cleared her throat uncomfortably.

“Anyways, I think I was... about twenty three? Yeah, that sounds about right. I’d just lost my job, and I couldn’t afford to pay rent. Lina offered her place, so me and Kat moved in so that we’d both be able to pay rent easier. Well, she’s technically the one paying, but I pay about half, so we’re even,”

“And I think that’s it!” she finished, looking around the room at her friends. “Kat, you wanna take it from there?”

Kat startled as attention shifted to her, shifting in her seat awkwardly. “Uh, sure,”

“Catalina was helping Jane settle in, so I went out to get a look around town. Eventually, these four boys come up to me and we start talking. They seemed nice, but then they got kind of pushy and touchy. Wanted me to go somewhere with them and I guess it annoyed them when I said no,”

Kat inhaled deeply, setting her hands on her legs. 

“I started panicking and they got pushier. Then, Anna comes out of nowhere and starts trying to fight the guys. She managed to get them to leave, but she got beat up pretty bad in the process. I took her back to Lina’s place to patch her up, and it turns out Anna and Lina actually knew each other! Apparently Anna getting into fights with people like them is pretty common, so Lina always helps her whenever she gets beat up. So, yeah,”

Kat finished with an awkward smile, looking around. As the women finished with their meal, they followed Anna to the door to see her off. 

“Thanks for inviting me Lina!” she chirped, waving cheerfully. Catalina blinked, creasing her brow. 

“But I didn’t-”

Ann elbowed her in the ribs, staring at Kat, who’s eyes widened in panic.

“Just go with it,” she whispered frantically. Catalina nodded slowly.

“I mean- yeah, no problem!” 

Jane snorted as the door closed behind Anna. “Real smooth Lina, real smooth,”

And so, the women went their separate ways, with Cathy grabbing a book off the shelf and retreating to her and Jane’s room, Jane and Catalina heading off to clean the kitchen, and Anne and Kat retreating to their shared room. Flopping down onto her bed, Anne sighed, placing her hand over her eyes.

“Kitty, if you don’t ask Anna out by the end of the month I swear to god I will do it for you. Watching you two pine is so unbelievably painful.

“ANNE!”


	9. haha trauma go brrrr

Kat awoke to a shrill scream cutting across the room. Jolting up with a start, she turned, searching her room for the source. Her eyes landed on Anne, sat up in her own bed, thick tears streaming down her face as she gasped for breath. Her eyes scanned the room frantically, wide and panicked. Hesitantly, Kat approached, eyes soft with concern.

“... Annie?” 

Anne jolted up, scrambling to the corner of the bed, curling into a tight ball as shaking arms shielded her head.

“Nononono please I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry Imsorryimsorryimsorry-”

Kat’s heart broke at how weak her cousin’s pleas sounded as she slowly approached the bed. 

“Anne? It’s me, Kitty. You’re not in trouble,” Kat murmured softly in an effort to console her broken friend. Her call fell on deaf ears as Anne pressed herself further away her, curling in on herself. 

“Please-I’m sorry- please-”

The door banged open as Jane, Catalina, and Cathy burst into the room. Jane rushed to her cousin’s side, much to the distress of Anne.

“No no nononono, please don’t-”

Jane stared mutely at Anne’s response, eyes wide and helpless. Taking charge, Cathy crossed the room slowly, stopping a little distance away from Anne. 

“Jane, go wait outside with Kitty. Lina, can you go make some tea? I’ll handle this,”

Kat led Jane outside, murmuring gentle reassurances. Catalina took action, hurrying to the kitchen. Once alone, Cathy sat on the floor next to Anne’s bed.

“Anne?”

No response.

Oh well, she could work with this.

“It’s me, B-6. Or Cathy. I don’t really know what works better for you right now, so anything works. We got away, remember?”

Anne stared at the wall before her blankly, a gentle stream of tears running down her face. Though, Cathy supposed, she no longer was pleading for mercy, so that was a win.

“We’re in my godmother’s house. You know, Lina. Kitty and Jane are waiting outside, Jane seemed really shaken. Anna’s probably sleeping at her house. You know, Kitty’s crush that’s extremely obvious to everyone except her,”

Anne’s lips twitched slightly, something Cathy considered a victory.

“I’m not gonna lie, we’re all really worried about you. But that’s okay, take all the time you need, we’ll wait,”

The two sat in a comfortable silence, Anne’s choked sobs filling the air. Cathy fiddled with the torn covers of Anne’s cot absently, occasionally remarking on something they’d done today or making observations on people they’d met on their journey. Cathy startled as she noted movement in the corner of her eye. Anne sat next to her, blanket wrapped around her tightly.

“Cathy?” she croaked, voice thick with emotion. 

“That’s me,” Cathy smiled gently, scooching sideways to make room. Anne said nothing, eyes staring blankly at the wall as she rested her head hesitantly on Cathy’s shoulder. Cathy froze before hesitantly wrapping her arm around the smaller girl, relaxing as Anne melted into the embrace. Sighing contentedly, Anne snuggled into Cathy’s arms, prompting a blush from the latter. Clearing her throat awkwardly, Cathy spoke up.

“You wanna talk about it?” she questioned, stroking Anne’s hair gently. Anne grumbled unintelligibly, shaking her head vigorously. Pausing, Cathy tried a different approach. 

“You wanna see Jane and Kitty?”

A muffled “Yeah,” sounded from Anne’s position snuggled in Cathy’s arms, prompting a relieved sigh from Cathy.

Standing, Cathy held a hand out to help Anne up, which was taken gratefully. Standing, Anne immediately latched onto Cathy, arms wrapped around her midsection firmly. Navigating the two out the room, Cathy’s arm wrapped around Anne loosely. Pausing at the doorframe, Cathy smiled softly at Jane, who’s gaze was fixed solely on Anne. Detaching herself from Cathy’s embrace, Anne stared nervously at her cousins.

“Hi Jane. Kitty,”

“Hey,” Kat piped up, smiling softly from Jane’s side. “You good?” 

Anne nodded mutely, biting her lip nervously. Hesitantly, Jane looked up.

“May I hug you?” 

Anne nodded almost eagerly, wrapping her arms around the older woman. Jane’s arms wrapped around her carefully, as if afraid of breaking the girl if she were too rough, before tightening as she rested her head on top of Anne’s. Kat looked to Cathy hesitantly, eyes uncertain. Cathy nodded reassuringly, gesturing quietly to the hugging cousins. Kat slowly wrapped her arms around her cousins, lips twitching into a smile as they shifted to include her in the embrace. Smiling, Cathy stepped away from the cousins towards the kitchen.

“Hi Lina,”

Catalina jumped, hissing in pain as she spilled the scalding water on her hands. 

“Cathy!” she scolded gently, moving to run her burnt hands under the cold water in the flower vase. Eyes softening, she sighed at Cathy’s apologetic expression.

“Sorry Lina, I just figured you’d want to know how Anne’s doing,”

Catalina hummed in thought, spreading some cream over her red hands. 

“I suppose you’re right, I do. But please, try not to sneak up on me next time? Both for your sake and mine,”

Cathy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Yeah, sorry again. Anyways, the cousins are having a moment, so I don’t think we should interrupt them,”

Catalina nodded thoughtfully, her foot tapping on the ground. 

“You’re probably right,”

Smiling softly, Catalina gestured to the steaming mugs spread across the table.

“Well then, we wouldn’t want this to go cold now, would we?”

Cathy grinned.

“We most certainly wouldn’t,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I implied Cathy and Catalina drank enough tea for five people what about it


	10. Uh Oh Feelings

Change was happening. Too slow for Cathy to notice at first, but just as sure as the rising and setting of the sun. 

It was like the setting of the sun. You never quite see it moving, yet one will always find themselves under the starry sky, illuminated by the gentle glow of the moon. 

She wasn’t sure when it had begun. She’d always held some sort of fascination for the girl in the cell across from hers, but it had never gone beyond that. Simple curiosity. Nothing more. 

But as days passed and Cathy grew closer with the other girl, she felt the fascination grow into something more. 

If you were to ask her to pinpoint the exact moment it had started, Cathy wouldn’t be able to answer. Sharing a simple breakfast with Anne after late nights spent reading and talking together? Holding each other closely in hopes of warding off the night terrors, reminding themselves they were safe now? Being encouraged by Anne to go see her godmother after years spent in isolation? Huddling together for warmth under the night sky, gawking at the world they’d so missed all those years? Even as early as sharing glances and smiles through the facility walls, a comforting presence within the cold world of the facility? Cathy couldn’t tell you. 

What she could tell you was she didn’t like it.

She didn’t like the ugly feeling in her chest when she saw that one guy flirting with Anne at the market. She didn’t like the bubbly feeling in her chest when Anne hugged her tightly after she’d told the guy to fuck off. She didn’t like the the ache in her heart as she watched Anne sob and cling to Jane tightly after a nightmare. It was more annoying than anything to be completely honest. Cathy didn’t have time for such little things like crushes! 

Not that she had a crush of course, that would be ridiculous. Absolutely insane. 

Bringing the topic up with Catalina proved to be of no aid either.

“So, you like Boleyn?”

Catalina regarded her with a raised eyebrow, looking up from her book. Cathy blushed a bright red.

“No! I mean-maybe? Probably not! It’s just-I-I don’t like her! She’s just my friend, nothing else!”

Catalina snorted in disbelief, setting her book down. 

“Sure she is,”

Cathy threw her hands in the air, groaning in exasperation. 

“She is! It’s just-I get this weird feeling when I’m with her! Or if she’s really upset, I get upset too! Just friend things!”

Catalina sighed patiently, placing her book down on her nightstand. Turning to face Cathy directly, she sat herself up straighter. 

“Alright mija, let’s try something different,”

Cathy nodded hesitantly, eying her godmother nervously.

“Do you remember little Johnny?”

Cathy nodded, she did remember. Johnny had been the her neighbor and friend before she’d been abducted, a little boy with auburn hair and big eyes. She vaguely recalled how they’d tried to start a rock collection before he’d moved away to live with his aunt and she’d never heard from him again.

“Did you ever feel like that with Johnny? Did these “Just friend things” happen with him?”

Cathy shook her head slowly, eyes fixated on the painting hung above Catalina’s bed.

“And if these are “just friend things”, than why are you worried about them? Why come for help?”

Cathy said nothing, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

Because even if it remained unsaid, Cathy knew she was right.

She knew that she never worried so much about her previous friends. She knew she never felt that way around her previous friends. She knew she never held her previous friends the way she held Anne. But maybe some part of her needed to hear it from someone else. Maybe some part of her prayed she was wrong. 

Maybe some part of her was afraid of loving her best friend.

\-------------------------------------------

It had been a week since coming to the realization. 

A week since she’d been able to look Anne in the eye without a sick feeling settling in her stomach. 

Jane had cornered her a couple days in, when the others had gone out to meet up with Anna at the market. Closing the door behind them, Jane had turned to Cathy, a serious expression plastered on her face.

“Catherine Parr, how long have you been in love with my cousin,”

Cathy froze, avoiding Jane’s gaze.

“..... I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

Jane scoffed in disbelief, eyeing her critically.

“Oh come on, we both know exactly what I’m talking about. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

Cathy said nothing, staring firmly at the ground. Jane sighed.

“Anne. You like her, right?”

Her voice was gentler than before, gaze soft when Cathy looked up to meet her eyes.

“..... I don’t know,” Cathy admitted, rubbing her neck awkwardly. Jane nodded in understanding, smiling softly.

“I get that. If you asked me when I first started liking Lina, I wouldn’t be able to tell you,”

Cathy grinned playfully, bumping Jane’s shoulder with her own.

“Knew you liked her,”

Jane blushed but continued.

“Oh hush, this isn’t about that!”

“So, why are you upset?”

Cathy looked away, curling on herself slightly.

“I’m not, I-”

Cathy struggled, at a loss for words.

“You just need to process,” Jane finished.

Cathy nodded, hands tugging at her collar nervously.

“I know I like her, and I wouldn’t ever change that. I don’t wanna make things awkward or mess things up, I just-”

“You need time for your brain to cool down,”

“Yeah,” Cathy nodded, voice heavy with emotion. 

“I just need some time to think,”

\------------------------------------------- 

It was a clear night when Cathy spoke to Anne for the first time in a week. Jane went out with Catalina as a “girls night out” (Cathy chose to ignore how flustered they’d looked when leaving), so Cathy had the room to herself. Just as she felt her conscience fading, the creak of the door brought her back to reality. 

“Cathy?”

Anne’s voice was small and weak as she stood at the door, hesitating at the entrance. Sitting up, Cathy pulled the cover off her bed.

“Nightmare?”

Anne nodded mutely, stepping up into the game at Cathy’s invitation.

“Wanna talk about it?” Cathy asked, scooching sideways to make room on the bed. Anne said nothing, sliding into bed next to Cathy and pressing herself closely into Cathy’s side. Anne hesitated slightly, looking away from Cathy.

“I was in a room and it was all white and I couldn’t find you and there was all this noise and someone was coming but and I couldn’t hide and-”

Anne cut off with a chocked sob, pressing her face into Cathy’s shoulder. Cathy wrapped her arms around her tightly, kissing her forehead.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe, we’re gonna be okay. I’m right here,”

Anne said nothing, curling deeper into Cathy’s side. 

And so they lay there, Cathy gently humming a song she vaguely recalled her mother singing to her on nights sleep evaded her. The lyrics had long since abandoned her, but the melody rang true through her head. 

And so, they fell asleep there, wrapped in each others arms, safe in the knowledge they weren’t alone anymore. And when Jane returned to find her girls wrapped in each others arm’s she smiled. Smiled, with the knowledge that her baby cousin was safe in Cathy’s arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Something was bothering Cathy.

Something was bothering Cathy, and it had to do with Anne and the facility.

At first, Anne had chalked it up as Cathy not wanting to think of unpleasant memories. Hell, Anne didn’t want to either.

But as time went on, Anne began to notice things. How Cathy would stay up late at night writing furiously, creating and destroying notes. How she’d regard Anne with a watchful gaze, turning away as soon as she was caught. How she’d stare at the wall blankly for hours on end, lost in thought.

Something was bothering Cathy, and it was starting to bother Anne.

So, Anne resolved to do the obvious thing and talk about it like a normal person. 

Easier said than done.

For one thing, it appeared Cathy was avoiding her. Sure, they’d still hang out with everyone and stick together on nights the night terrors just wouldn’t leave, but that was it. She could never find Cathy alone, the nights she’d spent curled up next to Cathy, always too exhausted to bother thinking of Cathy’s mystery bother. 

But in those far in between moments, when Cathy’s guard was lowered and Anne found her eyes searching the former’s, was when she’d notice. How Cathy’s eyes carried a permanently exhausted look to them, often masked by a happy twinkle, although more recently they appeared more dull and sad. How her figure hunched over constantly, as if carrying an invisible burden, plaguing her and her alone. 

One of their few nights spent with the house to themselves confirmed Anne’s suspicions of her friend’s mystery problem. 

The house was completely empty. Jane had gone out with Kat and Catalina to go feed some ducks at a nearby pond, and although they’d both been invited to accompany them, Cathy and Anne had both opted to stay home. Cathy had politely declined the invitation before retreating to her and Jane’s shared room, and Anne had decided to stay home after seeing the worried look on Catalina’s face. As the three women left the house, Anne caught Catalina’s arm.

“I’ll keep an eye on her, you just enjoy your day out, okay?”

Catalina nodded.

“Thanks,” she whispered, sending Anne a thankful smile.

As the door shut behind them, Anne set off towards Cathy’s room, a determined glint in her eyes.

\--------------------------------------------------- ------- --- -- - -

“Hey Cath, let’s go on a walk,”

Cathy looked up from her pages upon pages of writing.

“What?”

Anne sat up, leaning against the headboard of Jane’s bed.

“Let’s go on a walk! You gotta get bored eventually of just sitting at a desk all day,” she answered enthusiastically. Glancing back at her writing, Cathy jotted something down on her page.

“Sorry Anne, maybe some other time. You can go on without me,”

“Caaaathyyyy,” Anne pouted. Cathy looked up at Anne, who put on her best puppy-dog-eyes. 

“Fine,” Cathy sighed, a smile playing at her lips. 

“Yeah!”

“Just let me finish this up and I’ll be right there. Meet me at the door?”

“Meet you at the door,”

\--------------------------------------------------- ------- --- -- - -

The two girls made their way through the forest, taking in the wildlife around them. Anne pointed around, excitedly asking Cathy to identify different wildlife and flora. Cathy would answer nonchalantly, occasionally mentioning a story from her childhood or facts she deemed interesting. 

Overall, things were going great.

Just as they came up on a small pond, Anne decided to set her plan in motion.

“Let’s take a break, my legs are getting tired,”

“Alright,” Cathy hummed, sitting down against a tree. Anne sat down a little ways away from her, setting herself down in the shade of a rickety dead tree. Her eyes travelled to Cathy, staring out at the water glistening in the sunlight as light filtered through the trees above them. Her eyes, just previously glinting with happiness, regained their dull exhaustion. Anne frowned at the sight.

“So, how’ve you been doing?”

Cathy looked up, mouth twitching up slightly as Anne smiled at her brightly.

“Pretty good, you?” she answered softly.

“Good, good,”

An heavy silence set over the two as Cathy returned to her nature watching. Frowning slightly, Anne decided to take a different approach.

“Alright Cath, I’m gonna be honest with you and I want you to be honest in return,”

Cathy looked up at her, a brief panic overtaking her features before she plastered a smile on her face.

“Alright, what do you wanna talk about?”

Inhaling deeply, Anne decided to cut to the chase.

“Something’s been bothering you. Don’t try and deny it. I know we’re all entitled to our secrets, but if it’s bothering you this much, then I don’t know if I can really be okay with it. No one should have to suffer alone, we both know this more than anyone,”

Cathy’s eyes flickered with pain as she fixed Anne with a long stare.

“I -” She started, seemingly at a loss for words.

“I’m sorry, it’s just-”

Groaning, she ran a hand through her hair. 

“I want to tell you but I don’t know how to,” She whispered helplessly, eyes shining with unshed tears. Standing up, Anne moved to console her friend when a loud snap caught her attention. Looking up, she seemed to watch in slow motion as a thick branch fell towards her.

“Anne!” Cathy screamed.

Bracing for impact, Anne screwed her eyes shut as her arms flew up to cover her head.

But no impact came.

Opening her eyes, her head slowly turned upwards as her lips parted in shock. The branch hovered a foot above her head, enveloped in a light purple glow. She watched in awe as it rested still in the air, as if suspended by string.

“Cathy, you seeing this-”

Her eyes widened in shock as Cathy fixed the branch with a concentrated stare, arm lifted towards it. A gentle purple illuminated her left eye, as well as her outstretched hand. Her entire body shook with effort, sweat dripping down her brow. As the branch lowered slowly to the ground, she turned to an awestruck Anne.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, eyes rolling back into her head as she collapsed onto the ground unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the twist came out of nowhere, I meant to introduce it earlier ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	12. Chapter 12

Anne raced through the familiar path in the forest, clutching a feverish Cathy to her chest tightly. Her mind raced, thousands upon thousands of questions screaming from the back of her mind, although one question screamed louder than the others.

What.

Cathy’s body burned with fever in her arms, the occasional pained whimper escaping her lips.

Anne felt her heart shatter at the sound.

The sky glowed an orang-ish blue hue as Anne finally found herself coming up on the cottage

“It’s alright love, we’re almost home,” she whispered to the shaking Cathy. Running up to the cottage, she pounded on the door frantically. A worried Cataline opened the door, accompanied by a teary-eyed Jane.

“Are you two alright? Where have you-”

Her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on Cathy.

“Help,” Anne squeaked.

Catalina said nothing, taking Cathy from Anne’s arms into her own. She hurried through the house, followed by Anne and Jane, the latter placing a comforting hand on Anne’s shoulder. The group sped past the living room, where an anxious Kat was being consoled by Anna, to Cathy and Jane’s room. Placing Cathy on the bed, she turned to Anne.

“What happened?” she demanded, eyebrows furrowed in concern. Anne opened her mouth to speak before a stray thought interrupted her.

What if there’s a reason Cathy was keeping it a secret? Would they even believe you?

“I....I don’t know. We decided to go on a walk, then she just collapsed,” She whispered, avoiding Jane’s gaze. Catalina didn’t appear to notice any hesitation in Anne’s voice, too preoccupied with her fever stricken goddaughter. Gently, Jane led Anne out of the room, leaving the Aragon-Parrs alone. Sitting down on the couch, she wordlessly pulled Anne into a tight embrace. Anna and Kat sidled out of the room awkwardly, with Kat shooting the two one last glance before following her friend.

Eventually, Jane pulled away, one arm still wrapped around her cousin. Her eyes were red and puffy, and Anne felt her heart shatter for the second time that night.

“What happened?” Her voice mirrored Catalina’s, thick with concern. Anne laid, her head against Jane’s chest, embracing the warmth.

“I-we went on a walk, and we were taking a break near a pond, and-”

Anne hesitated, eyes dropping to the floor.

“When we got up to continue, she collapsed. I tried getting us back, but I might’ve taken some wrong turns. Sorry for not leaving a note,” she finished quietly.

Jane said nothing for a moment, simply rubbing circles into Anne’s back comfortingly. Eventually she stopped, lifting Anne’s face to look her in the eye.

“Oh love, I wasn’t upset you didn’t say anything before leaving, we were just worried,”

Worried? They just went for a walk, why would the others be-

…..Oh

Wrapping her arms around her cousin, Anne closed her eyes.

“We’re not going anywhere,” she whispered. Jane nodded mutely, resting her head on top of Anne’s. The door creaked open as Catalina entered the room, eyes dull and tired. Immediately, Anne was on her feet.

“How’s Cathy?” she asked, voice laced with concern.

Catalina rubbed her eyes tiredly.

“She’s running a fever, but she’ll be fine. Right now, we just need to let her rest,”

Anne felt her entire body sag with relief, even if a grand majority of her questions remained unanswered. 

“Can I see her?”

Catalina shifted her weight uncomfortably, avoiding Anne’s gaze. Anne felt her stomach drop.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea...”

“But-”

“Anne, I think we should listen to Catalina. It’s getting late anyways, and you can probably go see her in the morning. Is that okay with you?” Jane looked up to Catalina questioningly, who responded with a curt nod.

“Get some rest, I think we all need it,”

“But-”

“Anne,” Jane warned gently, and that was the end of that.

\--------------------------------------------

That night, even when all residents of the cottage were fast asleep, Anne found herself wide awake. Kat snored lightly across the room, and Anne had no doubt Jane was the same, as well as Catalina. Still, Anne tossed and turned, mind buzzing.

For one thing, she wanted to see Cathy. She needed to know she was okay. Secondly, she was still reeling from the day’s events. Her mind raced, trying to make heads or tails of the day’s events, to no avail. Had Cathy known she could do that? Did she do it on purpose? Was that what she’d been worried about? Did the incident have anything to do with her friend’s ill state?

Well, duh, She thought, Why else would she have collapsed?

Is there some other variable that I don’t know of? The thought shook her to the core.

Too absorbed by her train of thought, Anne didn’t notice as the sun peeked over the horizon, slowly filling the room with it’s gentle glow. She didn’t notice as birds chirped outside her window, singing their cheerful morning song. 

What she did notice, was when Kat sat up, stretching with a quiet moan. She rubbed her eye tiredly, running a hand through her sleep tousled hair.

“Annie?” She yawned.

“Mm?”

Kat squinted, scrutinizing Anne under her tired gaze.

“Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Mm,”

“Is that a yes or....?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” she shrugged, “It’s no big deal,”

“Anne...” Kat began softly. Anne pointedly looked past her at the door.

“Whatever. It’s morning, I’m gonna go see Cathy,”

\-------------------------------------------- 

Anne slowly creaked the door open, mentally preparing for the sight that would meet her.

It wasn’t enough.

Cathy laid on the bed, hair matted to her face as heavy, labored breaths escaped her. Her face contorted in pain, pained grunts and whimpers occasionally interrupting her heavy breathing. Even as she sweated profusely, her entire body shook with shivers. 

It broke Anne’s heart.

For a moment, all she could do was stare. She was frozen in place, watching the girl she cared for so dearly writhing in pain, delirious with fever. A quiet whimper brought her back to reality, and she suddenly found herself rushing to Cathy’s bedside, seating herself gently on the bed next to her.

“Hey Cath,” she whispered. Cathy gave no indication of hearing her, although her thrashing stilled slightly.

“We’re back home now, I managed to get back. I suppose you know this already though,”

An uncomfortable silence filled the air, pierced by the occasional whimper or grunt. 

“So uh, I’m still pretty clueless as to what exactly happened back there, but whatever. If that was the reason you were all upset earlier, then I guess that’s fair. But uh, I think you were pretty cool back there,”

Silence.

Motion in the corner of her vision caught her attention, and she looked up. Cathy’s arm groped around the bed. Her hand found Anne’s, gripping it tightly. Anne tensed slightly before relaxing, giving Cathy’s hand a gentle squeeze. As the two fell into a comfortable silence, Anne felt her eyelids grow heavy, her last night of no sleep catching up to her. 

\-------------------------------------------- 

Jane awoke slowly with a yawn, squinting in the bright sunlight of the moment. Rolling off the couch with a grunt, she dusted off her clothes. Too exhausted by the previous night’s events, she hadn’t bothered to change into her pajamas before collapsing onto the couch, deciding to leave the room for Cathy. 

Speaking of Cathy, she thought, stretching with a groan, I’d better go check up on her,

Peeking into the room, her lips twitched into a smile.

Cathy and Anne lay on the bed, fast asleep. Cathy’s arm was draped over Anne’s waist, who’s arms wrapped around Cathy’s midsection. Anne’s face snuggled into the crook of Cathy’s neck, quiet snores escaping her mouth. Cathy’s face was calm and peaceful, a jarring difference to her pained expression from before.

Taking Cathy’s temperature, Jane smiled as she noted a cooler temperature than the night before. It appeared their Cathy was on the mend.

Groaning slightly, Anne looked up at Jane, her hair sticking up in odd directions.

“Jane?” she groaned. 

“Shh, it’s okay. Get some rest, I’ll bring your breakfast later,”

Anne said nothing, simply letting her head fall onto Cathy’s chest, quiet snores escaping her within seconds.


	13. Chapter 13

By the time Anne had finished her breakfast, Cathy appeared to be semi-conscious. She was no longer thrashing about the bed, although she still appeared to be somewhat delirious with fever. Taking her place on Cathy’s bed, she picked up a random stack of paper. Flicking through the pages, her lips twitched upwards as she noticed “caThy,” scrawled messily in the margins of each page, surrounded by little stars and flowers.

Flipping through the pages, Anne smiled reading pages upon pages of writing. She smiled as she read about stories and worlds Cathy brought to life with her quill, tales of knight-saving-princesses and friendly dragons. About a queen without a king, and about a traveler without a destination. 

“.....my.... fault.....”

Anne looked up at Cathy, who mumbled incoherently under her breath.

“What’s your fault?” she asked against her better judgment. Cathy squirmed, gripping the sheets tightly.

“.......all.... my fault....” she murmured. Suddenly she flinched back, as if struck by an invisible hand.

“......no..... I can’t......”

Anne’s hand hovered worriedly over her friend’s shoulder, unsure of what to do.

“Cathy?”

“..... don’t......... please.....”

Anne’s concern grew as tears leaked out of Cathy’s eyes, her distress growing.

“Cathy? Cathy, can you hear me?” Her calls fell on deaf ears.

Cathy whimpered, thrashing about the bed. Anne watched in growing panic; Cathy had been doing so much better earlier, what had changed? Cathy’s voice mounted in volume, her cries growing desperate.

“Wait, stop!” she pleaded, “Please, don’t!”

As Cathy cried out once more, Anne’s panic grew. 

“Cathy! Cath, I need you to wake up!”

Cathy didn’t respond, simply continuing to thrash around the bed in a blind panic. Suddenly, she shot up, eyes wide and terrified. She looked around the room blankly, taking in her surroundings. 

“Cath?” she asked cautiously, “Do you know where you are?”

Cathy stared at her blankly, thick tears running down her face before she threw herself at Anne, arms wrapping loosely around her neck. Anne fell backwards onto the bed before propping herself up on her elbow, wrapping her free arm around her now sobbing friend. 

“I’m sorry,” Cathy whispered, a stark contrast to her panicked yells of before. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry-”

“Hey, hey,” Anne murmured, taken aback by her friend’s sudden change in demeanor. “It’s okay, you have nothing to be sorry for,” 

Cathy didn’t answer, simply continuing her slew of apologies. Slumping weakly against Anne, she closed her eyes with a sigh. Her ragged breaths evened out, falling back into a feverish sleep, leaving Anne with far more questions than before.

\---------------------------------------------------

The next time Anne came to visit Cathy, the latter appeared far more present than before. Cathy sat up against the bed, writing something Anne couldn’t quite make out in her journal. As Anne stepped through the door, Cathy looked up with a tired smile. 

“Hi Anne,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Hey you,” Anne greeted, sitting down next to her, “How’re you feeling?”

Cathy shrugged. “Better,”

The two sat in an awkward silence, occasionally pierced by the flick of a page or a short cough. 

“So.....” Anne began awkwardly.

“So....?”

“Are we gonna.....y’know......” 

“Anne, you are leaving far too much for me to interpret,” Cathy deadpanned. 

Anne squirmed awkwardly, rubbing her neck nervously.

“Yeah, so...... are we gonna talk about what happened?”

Cathy’s gaze fell to the floor, her hand coming up to fiddle with her curls. Tugging at a strand of her hair, she smiled at Anne sheepishly. 

“Yeah, I guess we should.....”

\---------------------------------------------------

“So, where do we start?”

Anne and Cathy stared at each other, Cathy nervous and Anne hesitant. Anne fiddled with the corner of the cover awkwardly, glancing up at Cathy every so often. Finally, Anne spoke.

“So, am I legally allowed to ask what the fuck happened?”

Anne cringed at the harshness of her words.

“Sorry, I mean-”

“No, it’s fine,” Cathy assured her, “what happened was pretty weird, I will admit”

Silence.

“Erm, so..... can you do it on command? Did you already know you can do it? Have you done that before? Do you know why you can do it?” The slew of questions left Anne’s mouth before she was able to stop herself. Cathy gave her an amused smile.

“One: probably not, two: I had my suspicions, but I wasn’t sure, three: no, four: yes,”

Anne stared at Cathy expectantly, her eyebrow raised.

“Are you gonna elaborate or.....?”

Cathy jumped, blushing a bright red.

“Yeah! Yeah....”

Fiddling with the hem of her shirt, Cathy cleared her throat awkwardly. Her foot twitched nervously, eyes darting from Anne to the door anxiously. 

“In the time you’ve been at the facility, have you ever learnt what they were doing?”

Anne shook her head, dread settling in the pit of her stomach.

“Well, um.... they were kind of trying to create human superweapons?”

Anne stared at her blankly.

“They WHAT?!”

Cathy’s hands shook, and amidst her confusion, Anne reached a hand out and placed it over the former’s.

“Yeah..... I heard them talking about it one time after a test, so I kind of figured out the rest,”

Anne’s head spun, heart pounding.

“Wait, so does that mean.....?”

“-That you can do something similar? Probably,” Cathy finished simply. Anne placed her head in her hands, trying to calm her racing thoughts.

“Are you okay?” Cathy asked worriedly. Anne nodded, running a hand through her hair.

“Yeah...... it’s just not every day you learn-”

“That you might be an enhanced superhuman created solely for the purpose of being a superweapon for a corrupt organization? Yeah, I’m pretty sure the existential crises I had when I learnt that lasted like a week,” Cathy added. Anne smiled at her weakly, causing a gentle blush to spread across her face. 

“This would be fucking rad if it weren’t for the circumstances,” Anne groaned. Cathy laughed lightly.

“You’re taking it surprisingly well,” she remarked. Anne shrugged.

“Well, can’t change it now. Besides, powers sound pretty cool. Just got a new way to kick people asses,” 

Cathy giggled into her hand. “Of course you find out you might have powers and immediately turn to violence,” she snarked. Anne sat up, hitting her playfully.

“Hey!”

Cathy simply laughed harder, and soon, Anne found herself laughing along with her. As the laughter died down, the two settled into a comfortable silence. Eventually, it was Anne who spoke first.

“...... So, how much you wanna bet Lina and Jane take the news way worse?”

\---------------------------------------------------

Anne was right.

They did not take the news very well.

\---------------------------------------------------

“They WHAT?!” Jane screamed, face flushed bright red with anger. Next to her, Catalina fumed silently, shaking with barely contained rage. Anne and Cathy eyed each other nervously.

“I mean....yeah?”

“That’s essentially it, yeah,”

Anne leaned over to Cathy slightly, watching as Jane and Catalina stewed with barely contained rage.

“Good thing Kitty and Anna are on a not-date-just-going-out-as-friends, right? Bet the house would explode if they got word of this,” She whispered. Cathy snorted, catching Jane and Catalina’s attention.

“You guys.... aren’t upset by this?’

Cathy shrugged.

“Don’t get me wrong, I had a full blown existential crisis when I learnt. Anne didn’t, but she’s weird so....”

“Hey!” Anne yelled. Cathy rolled her eyes good naturedly, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze.

“I kid, I kid,”

“You better,” Anne huffed. Jane and Catalina watched the exchange go down, smiling slightly as they joked with each other.

“Hey, could you two go pick Kitty up from Anna’s for dinner? Ask Anna if she wants to come too,” Jane asked, “Me and Lina are gonna talk for a while,”

“Sure....” Cathy answered. As the two headed for the door, Jane and Catalina wrapped the girls in a tight hug, keeping the girls in their embrace for slightly longer than needed. They might not have been okay back then, but the girls would be safe now. They’d make sure of it.


	14. Chapter 14

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaat!” Anne called, searching through her closet, “Have you seen my tunic?”

Kat peeked her head through the doorway, holding an elastic in her mouth.

“No, why do you ask?”

Anne huffed, throwing on a white cardigan.

“I’m going to the fair with Anna, seeing as you’re too chicken to do it yourself,”

Kat blushed a bright red, stammering a poor attempt at a response. Eventually, she just shot her elastic at Anne, who dogged it easily.

“You weren’t actually serious about that whole “asking Anna out for me” thing, were you?” Kat asked worriedly. Anne scoffed, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Course I was. But this isn’t about that,”

“Wait, what?” Kat began, Anne’s words just beginning to settle in. Anne ignored her heading out to the door.

“Anne, wait! What do you mean!?”

Anne hummed to herself, slipping her shoes onto her feet.

“Anna offered to give me a tour of the festival,” she offered.

“The other thing! What was the other thing you said?!”

But Anne was already far out the door.

\----------------------------------------------

Making her way through the festival, Anne couldn’t help but gawk at the sheer expanse of people spread out before her. Anna smiled beside her, occasionally intervening to make sure Anne didn’t walk into anyone or anything. Coming up on a set of stalls, Anna’s face lit up.

“Come on, I wanna show you something,” she grinned, taking off towards an alley between the stall, Anne hot in pursuit. 

Anne looked around the alley, half curious and half confused. Boxes stacked next to the wall creaked and groaned under their own weight, water a drainpipe dripped onto a puddle on the ground. The alley was narrow, Anne was sure she’d be able to grab both walls without moving if she tried. Shadows cast over the space, a cool chill left as a result.

Crouching close to the ground, Anna looked around, humming under her breath.

“Clovis? Come out, it’s okay,”

Slowly, a scruffy grey and black dog pattered out from behind one of the boxes, tail wagging as it lay eyes on Anna. It was thin and dirty, short fur sticking up in odd places. It had a small chunk missing from one of it’s ears, but it’s face shone with nothing but pure glee.

Barking happily, the dog ran up to Anna, jumping on it’s hind legs and licking her face. Anne laughed, petting it fondly.

“Hey Clovis, how’ve you been?! That’s a good boy!” she laughed. Looking up to an amazed Anne, she grinned toothily.

“This is Clovis,” Anna explained, “I found him while hiding from some guys I’d pissed off. I tried taking him home, but he wasn’t comfortable around some of the neighbors so he just stays around around here and I bring him food and water when I can,”

“Cute dog,” Anne remarked, bending down to scratch Clovis behind the ear. Clovis yipped happily, nuzzling his head into Anne’s hand. Anna, meanwhile, dug around her bag busily, letting out a victorious shout as she pulled a strip of jerky from her bag. Waving it to get Clovis’ attention, she threw it on the ground before him, smiling as he immediately jumped in to eat it.

Anne sat down next to Anna, watching Clovis eat with a smile. Patting him absentmindedly, she spoke.

“What if he came to live at Lina’s house?” she wondered aloud

Anna looked up at her curiously, a surprised look on her face.

“Really? Would that be okay?” she inquired, hand stilling from its previous position petting Clovis. Clovis pouted at that, laying his head on Anna’s lap sadly.

“I mean, I’d obviously have to talk to Lina and the others about it, but I don’t see why not,” she shrugged.

She was temporarily blinded by a blur of red as Anna launched herself at her, wrapping her arms around Anne’s midsection tightly.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou,” she beamed, eyes shining with glee. Anne smiled, awkwardly returning the hug.

“No problem,” she smiled. Sitting up, Anna turned to Clovis excitedly, hugging him happily. 

“You hear that, Clovis? We’re gonna get you a home!” she exclaimed. Clovis barked happily, licking Anna’s face.

Eventually, the girls got up to continue Anne’s tour. Hugging Clovis one last time, Anna cast him one last glance before leading Anne out of the alley and into the market.

“I can see why Kitty likes you,” Anne thought aloud, prompting a blush and a stammered response from Anna. “You’re chill. I give you my permission to date my cousin,”

Anna gawked, face flushing.

“I- you-”

“What?” Anne teased, “Don’t think I don’t see the lovestruck looks you keep giving her. Just ‘cause my cousins are oblivious dolts doesn’t mean I am too,”

“Says you,” Anna murmured under her breath, shoving her hands in her pockets.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

The two stared at each other for a beat before bursting into laughter, Anne leaning on Anna as she doubled over laughing. Eventually, the laughter died down and the two continued walking, only punctuated by the occasional giggle.

“No, really though,” Anne said eventually. Anna looked up at her curiously, stumbling slightly over an overgrown root at her feet, “You’re a good kid. You obviously like Kitty, and although I can’t speak for her, I think you’ve got a pretty good shot. Just remember that you’re already part of this mess of a family, no matter what you decide to do,”

Anna looked away from Anne, her face hidden by shadows of the overhead trees.

“Thanks,” she whispered, voice cracking. Wordlessly, Anne wrapped an arm around the younger girl. They continued walking in silence, and if Anne noticed Anna’s occasional sniffle or wipe of her eyes, she didn’t show it.

\----------------------------------------------

They’d taken a break at a worn out diner, resting their calloused feet and aching legs.

“I’m gonna go get something to eat, want anything?” Anne asked, standing up with a groan from the rickety chair. Anna shook her head no, eyes trained on the entrance of the diner blankly. 

Shrugging, she made her way to the bar to check the menu. The bartender raised his eyebrow at her horrible attempt of pronouncing the names of the dishes, but after settling on a simple turkey sandwich, she was set to go. Equipped with her sandwich and a glass of water, Anne made her way back to the table.

The outing had been going rather well, with the perfect weather and pleasant small talk. It had been going perfect, which was exactly why Anne should’ve expected something to go wrong.

Anna sat hunched over the table, shoulders tensed and eyes staring determinedly at her hands. Behind her, two boys, about Anne’s age, spoke obnoxiously, eyes burning into her back.

“-like a horse,” one of them finished just as Anne came within earshot. “No wonder she’s always alone,”

“A fucking psychopath,” the other agreed. Anna flinched, curling in on herself.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if her parents left to get away from ‘ol troll face over here,” the first one laughed. “A real bitch, with the face to match,”

The two laughed obnoxiously, making no effort to hide their gaze on Anna. The girl in question simply stared down at her lap, where her hands clasped together tightly.

“It’s no wonder-“

The boy was cut off as a sandwich hit him square in the face, followed by a glass of water.

“What the-“ he sputtered, right before Anne’s fist made collision with his face. The second boy watched in shock as Anne slammed her foot in the boy’s side, eyes dark with fury.

Getting his bearings, the boy dogged Anne’s next punch before sending one of his own, which collided solidly with her jaw. Holding her wrists away from his face, the boy kneed Anne hard in the stomach, grinning as she fell to the floor in pain.

“Thomas! Help me out here!” He ordered. Thomas stepped over just as Anne began sitting up, kicking her squarely in the side of her head.

Anne felt hands wrap tightly around her neck as she was lifted into to air.

(She wasn’t supposed to be here, her mind screamed at her. Something was wrong, something was wrong, something was-)  
Struggling, she sent a kick at the nearest boy, which he dogged easily. Her nails scratched uselessly at his hands, tears welling up in her eyes.

(The gleam of metal caught her attention as a scalpel came into view, gleaming in the white light of the room. She wanted Jane, she wanted Kitty, she wanted to be saved)  
Her vision blurred, her lungs screamed for air.

(She screamed and struggled against the hands restraining her; she had to get out she had to get out SHE HAD TO GET OUT-)  
Reality blurred with memory, she closed her eyes tightly as tears slipped down her face.

(“Stop!” She screamed, watching as the scalpel creeped closer.  
And closer.  
And closer.  
And clos-)  
She fell to the floor with a thud, gasping for breath. A red blur slammed into the boy’s side viciously, reeling back and punching wildly. Gasping for breath, Anne crawled under the table weakly, gripping her pounding head.

She heard the exchange of blows above her, grunts and shouts echoing in her ears. Holding her hand to her chest, she tried calming her racing heart. It was fine. She was fine. She was at a diner with Anna, who was-

Wait.

Peeking over the top of the table, she watched as Anna rammed her fist into the first boy’s gut, her face a mixture of rage and panic.

“Get! The fuck! Away!” She snarled, grunting as Thomas’ foot grazed her side. She yelped as the first boy sent a swift kick across her legs, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Attempting to stand up, she hissed in pain and fell back onto the ground. Were feet supposed to point that way?

The boy and Thomas stood over her triumphantly, grinning widely.

For about two seconds.

A sharp cry rang out as Anne rammed her shoulder into Thomas’ side, sending him barreling across the room. Turning to the first boy, she sent a swift kick at his dick, smiling grimly as he fell to the ground, howling in pain.

Wrapping Anna’s arm around her shoulder, Anne hobbled to the door, helping a limping Anna.

“Fucking run!” She yelped. Staggering through the crowd of people, the outraged cries of the boys rang in Anne’s ears. Ducking into an alley, she paled as they came face to face with a dead end.

“Well, well, well. Looks the the rats got lost in the maze,”

Jumping, Anne turned back to the entrance of the alley, where Thomas and the other boy smiled at them threateningly. Gulping, Anne stepped back, only to bump into the wall behind them. The boy’s smiled widened.

“Fuck off Henry,” Anna snarled, baring her teeth. Henry only smiled, taking a step towards the girls. Anna flinched, and Anne pulled her close.

“Uuuh, Henry?”

“Not now Thomas” Henry waved his friend off, eyes trained on the girls before him.

“... Henry?”

Henry ignored him.

“Henry, I really think-“

“What?!” Henry snapped.

Wordlessly, Thomas pointed to the mouth of the alley. Turning to look, Henry’s face went pale.

Teeth bared, Clovis growled at the boys, hackles raised. Barking angrily, he advanced on the boys slowly.

“Shit!” Henry yelped, backing away from the dog slowly. Snarling fiercely, he barked once more before charging. Screaming, the two boys ran from the alley, out of sight. Clovis followed, barking viciously.

Eventually, he padded back into the alley, tail wagging. Trotting up to Anna, he nuzzled her hand, licking some of the blood.

“... we have got to keep that dog,” Anne said eventually. Anna nodded wordlessly, petting Clovis absentmindedly.


End file.
